


You're at the Party

by MelodyoftheVoid



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Bullying, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Panic Attacks, Underage Drinking, give dib a support network 2020, stereotypical high school party™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25946542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyoftheVoid/pseuds/MelodyoftheVoid
Summary: You're at the party, everyone's invited.
Relationships: Dib & Gaz (Invader Zim), Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Torque Smackey, Keef/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 36





	You're at the Party

To say Dib was wary of the high school hierarchy would be an understatement. He was well aware of his place on the social totem pole and quite frankly could care less about it. He didn’t want to be ‘liked’ or ‘popular’. No. What Dib Membrane wanted was respect and for the world to get its head out of its collective ass and see the truth for once. If that made him a pariah, so be it. 

But that wasn’t entirely true. 

Otherwise the weird kid most known for punching the other weird kid and being the resident conspiracy nut wouldn’t be en route to a party thrown by one of the most popular kids in school. 

How he even got an invitation remained a mystery. One day he opened up his locker to find a hastily scribbled sticky note with an address and a date for a party at Chunk Drole’s. After seeing Zim act equally confused by a similar note he safely concluded that it was not a trick from the lizard (they’d moved past petty stunts like that a while ago, opting to just beat the tar out of each other off school grounds). He’d asked around to the handful of people who tolerated him and confirmed that, yes, this was an actual event that was actually happening and that he had a genuine invitation to. Somehow.

When he off-hand mentioned it to Gaz she stopped playing her Game-Slave 5 and looked him dead in the eye for an uncomfortable amount of time, seemingly checking to see if he was lying. Dib wasn’t sure what unnerved him more, the fact that Gaz seemed almost concerned about him or the fact she let her character die. When she felt satisfied, she turned back to her game and simply said, “I’m not going to pick you up” and started a new save file.

Now here he was, in front of Chunk’s house and for once cautiously optimistic. Sure, there was a chance this could all go horribly wrong, but maybe it wouldn’t? Besides, a little socialization wouldn’t kill him. Statistically speaking he was more likely to die on one of his hunts. Far riskier than a party. 

Walking in, he had to stop from reeling at the scent of alcohol. He knew that the more popular kids drank, that was no surprise, but the stench of it was more than a little off-putting. 

Looking around the crowded living room, Dib saw pretty much every person in his grade, all in various states of inebriation already. He’d shown up only an hour after the indicated time and yet here they were, drinking like it was the end of days. Dib was honestly a little impressed. 

“Hey look who decided to show up!”

A boisterous voice broke Dib out of his internal monologue. Turning to the source, Dib saw the host coming towards him, two drinks in hand.

“Didn’t think you were going to bother coming Membrane! Here, have a drink!”

“Oh, uh, thanks?”

Dib accepted the cup with a small smile, looking at the dubious red liquid with trepidation. He wasn’t sure what this was exactly; the color looking more like a darkened hard candy than any other recognizable drink. Oh god, Chunk was still looking at him. Did he want an explanation for being late? He definitely did not want to admit to sitting in his car for the last thirty minutes debating the merits of going inside.

“I got a bit lost on the way here. Neighborhood’s a maze…” 

Chunk gave Dib a slap on the back, nearly knocking the cup out his hand. That was a bit harsher than necessary. 

“Hey man, it’s all good! Come on in. Bathroom is down the hall to the left.” 

Chunk walked off to the crowd, a cheer going up as he entered the room. 

Looking back down at the drink, Dib contemplated just leaving now. His earlier optimism diminished by Chunk’s odd behavior. It was hard to shake the apprehension deep in the pit of his stomach. That lingering doubt of his former(?) bully’s motivations. But listening to the excited voices of his classmates, Dib yearned to join in. 

Fuck it, he was here to have a good time and that’s what he’d get for once in his life. Dib took a swig of the mystery red liquid and marveled for a moment. It was much sweeter than he’d expected; you could hardly taste the alcohol! He drank more, feeling a lightness spread. This wasn’t half bad!

He spotted a comfortable patch of open wall with a few familiar faces and made a beeline for them. Keef animatedly recounting some story, most likely one where he should’ve died by all accounts, to a mildly impressed Zim. And speaking of, the Irken sported one of his classic fashion disaster looks. He’d taken to just combining as many different styles as possible and somehow pulling it off. 

Aliens were amazing sometimes. Not that he’d tell Zim that.

Dib wadded out into the crowd of teens, wincing at the thudding bass from the speaker system. The dancing students knocking him to and fro, all sense of direction quickly disappearing. Just as Dib was about to resign himself to just existing here for the remainder of the night, a hand gripped his own, dragging him to safety. 

“You looked like you needed help there, Dib.”

His heart stopped as he looked into the eyes of his savior: Torque. 

“Oh!” The alcohol hastened the rush of blood to Dib’s face, palms now clammy with sweat, “Thank you! I uh. Yeah, I needed it. They’re like a herd of animals.”

Torque’s laugh made Dib’s stomach flip, “Ain’t that the truth. And I thought they were bad in the hallways.”

“Heh.”

Now was very much not the time for Dib to dive into his theories about the effects of the cafeteria food and how it probably kept the minds of the students dampened on purpose.

Definitely not the time.

“I was trying to get over to the wall so I could lurk and say I showed up. Probably not the best idea to dive straight into the crowd.”

“Probably not.”

“DIB-HUMAN! YOU ARE HERE!”

Zim’s shout cut through the cheering and music, the crowd, previously engrossed in their revelry, all turned in unison to stare in Zim’s direction. No. _His direction._

“Oh my god he really showed up.”

“Did _leprechauns_ invade the party? Or was it mole people? Aliens?”

“You never know what batshit conspiracy he’s screaming about.”

“Seriously, he looks like a carbon copy of his dad but he’s still such a freak.”

“His dad is weird but at least he’s useful.”

“Hey Jess, what was your guess for when he’d end up missing or dead, 2 years?”

“Nah, that was Chunk’s. I give him a year, tops.”

“I say he’s got a few months until they finally lock him in the crazy house for good.”

The ringing in his ears deafened Dib, the voices oh so far away, yet snippets of “crazy”, “freak”, and “insane” still wormed their way into his mind.

He couldn’t hear Zim or Keef telling the crowd off, nor did he catch Torque’s concerned looks. No, Dib did his best to keep his body from shaking to hard, locking his arms into place as he hastily made his way to the bathroom. Panic induced adrenaline forcing him to dart in, desperate to do _something_.

As soon as the door locked behind him, Dib allowed the pent-up energy to flow like an electrical current run rampant. Seven steps traced on repeat as Dib tried to get it out of his system. The need to just _move_ overwrote any logical thoughts he could’ve had. Words tumbled out unbidden as the rest of composure crumbled. 

“It’s fine there’s no need to be like this, why are you like this? You were only supposed to have a good time, why’d you have to ruin it? Why would you come in the first place if you knew that they’d be like this?”

A short intake of breath was the only pause between one train of thought and the next.

“But do they know? They can’t know, but why would they make those jokes otherwise? Of course they’d know. You’ve always been the failure, the embarrassment of the family. You knew. You always knew.”

Dib’s vision swam, and at this point he wasn’t sure if it was the drinks or the tears, but he couldn’t stop moving. If he stopped, he might not ever start again. He hated knowing what he looked like, and that he felt powerless to stop it. 

“Why did I even come here? To try and be normal? To pretend for one night I’m not the laughing stock of the entire school? Really? Fat lot of good that did me, huh? God, he even saw you run away like the coward you are. Pathetic.” 

A wave of nausea forced him to stand still, the energy leaving him all at once as he slumped to the floor. The cool tile sobering him, if only by a slight margin. 

Looks like he’d have to crawl out a window and never speak to another human being again. 

“-you good in there?”

A quiet voice broke through the overwhelming haze of panic. Embarrassment now flooding his system. Just what he needed, someone needing the restroom he was using for his crisis. 

“I-I’ll just be a minute.” 

“Dib? Can I come in?”

Oh, fuck him running it was Torque. 

“N-no, no i-it’s fine. I’m fine. Go back to the party.”

“Listen, I wanted to talk anyway, can I please come in?”

Well, there was no point in delaying the inevitable. Better to rip this particular band-aid off while he had access to all the alcohol in the world. 

“...fine.”

Reluctantly, Dib unlocked the door, allowing Torque to step in. The football star sat on the bathtub, gingerly avoiding Dib’s sprawled out legs. 

“I’m sorry for what they were saying out there, they’re assholes and that was out of line.”

The burgeoning anxiety in Dib was quickly replaced by confusion. Was Torque put up to this? No, he was nice, at least, compared to literally everyone else. Still, the guilt was odd, the sting of tears came back with a vengeance as his classmates’ sneers and whispers played in his head.

“It’s fine. I really don’t know what I was thinking coming here in the first place. I mean look at me, was there any chance that this wasn’t going to be a complete disaster?”

Dib threw his hands up, mania creeping back in.

“I mean, I’m not like you! I’m not liked, people don’t come up to me in the halls congratulating me on doing anything right or inviting me to hang out. People like you. They look up to you where I’m just… I’m just the freak who deludes himself into thinking he’s anywhere good enough to be with you.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

He readied himself to bolt, now fully ready to feel the sweet embrace of death.

“It’s just that I’ve…” Torque trailed off, “I’ve always admired you.”

Dib blinked once. Then twice. This. This was too realistic to be one of Zim’s hologram tricks. But this couldn’t be reality.

“Really?”

It came out more sarcastic than Dib wanted, but he couldn’t help it. Too many years of joke confessions and dares conditioned him to that response. The resulting blush across Torque’s face allayed some of his skepticism though.

“You remember when everyone was getting sick? I thought we were going to die, but. You weren’t scared. You even decided to protect me even when we’d barely even spoken before.”

“I didn’t think anyone remembered that. And, it wasn’t much really. I was trying to stop Zim’s plan.”

“But you could have done it better without me slowing you down. That’s not even mentioning all the other cool stuff you do.”

Dib was fairly certain he was moments away from combusting into flames.

“You’re just you, all the time. It’s amazing. The people out there? Fake as Zim’s wig. They only like me because I don’t say anything, I stand there and let them talk at me. If anything, I’m too boring for you.”

“Oh. Huh.”

Words escaped Dib as he tried to search for a response. Mouth opening and closing without a sound. So, his feelings… were requited. He glanced at the cup full of his remaining drink. Fuck it. FUCK IT! Downing the liquid courage, he grabbed Torque, and pressed his lips against the football star’s.

For a brief moment, he feared all of the other boy’s words being nothing more than empty platitudes, but then Torque wrapped his arms around him and he melted into the touch. His own hands wandered to clutch at the back of Torque’s shirt, desperate to be closer, feel wanted, _feel_.

When the need for oxygen reared it ugly head, the pair pulled back, warmth radiating off of their faces.

“I was kind of hoping you’d do that.”

“What can I say, I’m impulsive.”

“I know, now let’s leave before-”

The door flew off its hinges as a somewhat sheepish Keef stood behind a seething Zim.

“Dib-thing, Zim wishes to leave. The humans are getting stinkier than usual and ”

Dib did his best to casually get off of Torque’s lap, glaring at the bug for interrupting him.

“Why can’t you go home with Keef? Or get your ship?”

The redhead shrugged, “I was the designated for a couple of the others, they picked me up.”

“I don’t trust GIR to not smash every car here.”

Neither did he, sighing, Dib signaled for them to follow, startling as Torque did as well.

“What? I hitched a ride too. Besides, I don’t think anyone here is sober enough to drive home other than you guys.”

Their exit passed without incident, all the party-goers too involved in their own enjoyment to notice the four slipping out the back. On the one hand, Dib wished he could’ve made some grand exit, told them all off for their bullshit, on the other hand, he just wanted to go home and forget that this night ever happened.

The quartet got into Dib’s car, all not sure how to proceed when Torque suddenly broke the silence. 

“So, we’re going to get back at him right?”

Zim’s eyes lit with glee up as Dib stared blankly at Torque. 

Keef piped up beside him, “How? No offense Torque, but we’re all not exactly equipped to do that.”

“Speak for yourself, worm-child, I have an arsenal at my command! That miserable house will be nothing but CINDERS by the time Zim is done.”

Dib couldn’t help but laugh, that was the Zim he knew. Rolling his eyes, he turned first to the alien.

“What did we talk about?”

The green-skinned boy let out a huff, “Not killing humans just because they’re annoying.”

“Good,” Dib then looked at Torque, “but I agree with Keef. What could we possibly do that _doesn’t involve murder_ as revenge?” 

Torque steepled his fingers together in a familiar fashion. Belatedly, Dib realized that Torque was imitating him. 

“Simple, we report the party.”

Dib blinked. 

“What?”

Torque grinned back at him, giving a small shrug before continuing. 

“Chunk’s whole future is riding on his ‘future football career’. Everyone knows that he can’t get into any school worth anything with his grades.”

Keef, now sharing Torque’s devious expression, chimed in. 

“I think I once heard him say he didn’t know where Mexico was on a map.”

“Exactly. And a party of this size? With this much underaged drinking? He’d get dropped for sure.”

“Zim is sure that the Torque has thought this out, but if Zim recalls, Dib is already a target for Chunk. My nemesis does not need additional distractions.”

Dib let himself smile. In spite of Zim’s tone, he really did care. Kinda like Gaz.

“Oh, it won’t be any of us. It’ll be some concerned neighbors. Besides, it’s not like the police are doing anything else.”

The group collectively winced at that. With nothing more to add, Torque dialed the cops and after a brief conversation, gleefully exclaimed, “They’ll be here in 20.”

The four passed the time in relative silence, less tense and more excited this time. By the time the red and blue lights lit up the crowded street, they were all positively ecstatic. At first, the lights and music continued, but before long, all hell broke loose. 

The previously carefree partygoers all seemed to realize in unison that there were now authority figures on the premises and as if someone had yelled “SCATTER”, took off in different directions. 

Zim recorded the chaos as the humans in the car lost it, laughing hysterically as the drunkest of their peers tried to run but ended up either stumbling on nothing or running into stationary objects. One poor soul attempted to vault over the fence, instead face planting on the lawn, unmoving. 

Dib had to take off his glasses in fear they’d fall off, stomach aching as he doubled over. Tears streaming from his eyes. The weight of the night falling away from his shoulders in a wave of righteous joy. 

Once he was finally, _finally_ , able to catch his breath, he wheezed out, “We should probably leave before the police decide to come over here. How does movies at my place sound?”

“Fine, just so long as you do not make Zim watch that atrocious movie with the human bees.”

“Hey, the Bee Movie is a cinematic masterpiece,” Dib snickered, “It’s not my fault you can’t appreciate art.”

“Zim, if you don’t like that movie, we can’t date.”

The alien let out an offended gasp, eyes wide in semi-mock betrayal.

“Keef, you would betray me for the man-bee?”

“Sometimes that’s the way it goes,” Torque gave a faux sympathetic pat on Zim’s shoulder, “sorry it had to _bee_ this way.”

“HOW DARE!”

Leaving their classmates to their well-deserved fates, the car took off for the Membrane residence, the four swapping stories and placing bets on who would end up on the local news that night. Dib felt a calloused hand cover his own, before a head rested on his shoulder.

Turns out a little socialization could be a good thing.

Who knew?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for letting this languish at the bottom of my WIP pile, turns out Dorque was just what this thing needed to get going! Also can you tell I've never been to a party? Or gotten drunk? Lmao. Anyway panic attacks are fun. Enjoy! <3


End file.
